Related Coverage

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) – Dramatic video released Wednesday by the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department shows a man ramming a woman’s car with a truck, and then a deputy’s, right before he was shot and killed.

Damage to Deputy Sam Rodriguez’s car.

The man behind the wheel of the red truck in the surveillance video is 28-year-old Manuel Flores, a man with a history of domestic violence. It appears domestic violence is exactly what prompted his rampage Monday.

Surveillance from a gas station near Coors and Gun Club shows a woman and her daughter trying to get away from the red truck.

“She was telling me that he was threatening her,” the gas station clerk told KRQE News 13. He called 911.

Deputies said Flores was chasing down his girlfriend after an argument, where he accused her of cheating. Video shows him ram into the car carrying his girlfriend and her daughter. “She looked scared,” said the gas station clerk.

Surveillance video shows the woman run out of the car and her daughter drive off. Moments later, Flores just missed running the woman over, as she ran away.

Flores then backs up the truck, and speeds right into a BCSO patrol car. Deputy Sam Rodriguez was trapped inside his unit.

Deputy Sam Rodriguez

Then, Flores turns around, and T-bones the deputy’s car at a very high speed. The driver’s side of the deputy’s unit was completely smashed in.

Flores then got out of the truck while waving his arms. Deputies described it was “as if he was celebrating.” That’s when Rodriguez fired two shots from his patrol car. One bullet hit Flores in the chest, killing him.

Good samaritans later pulled the deputy from his car.

Flores has a checkered past, and a history of domestic violence.

One woman didn’t want to be identified, told News 13 she helped her neighbor who dated Flores years ago. “All the time, a lot of violence,” she said.

One of Flores’s ex girlfriends told News 13 he chased her with a knife, and use to beat up her and her sons. “They fight for everything, and big fights,” the woman said.

Flores has also been arrested for drugs, something his ex said made him act crazy.

In this case, video shows Flores didn’t care who was in his way. He was unarmed when he was shot.

BCSO said in a statement Wednesday, that the deputy feared for his life when Flores got out of the truck and waved his arms. They wouldn’t elaborate on what they meant by Flores “celebrating.” Investigators said they’re asking Rodriguez about that.

Flores has been arrested more than a dozen times. Deputy Rodriguez was banged up, but not seriously injured. The second round he fired hit a nearby building.